And The Strongest Drug Of Them All... Love
Love.
It is a word that we are taught when we are young and shown in various forms. It’s a concept that people have gone to war over, revolved holidays around, and that pushes the human mind to question rationality in everyday life. But the real question is, if love is so powerful, so common, and so popular… why can no one seem to define it? What is love, what makes it so powerful, where does it end and begin? If Love is the strongest drug of them all, why is everyone so eager to be an addict.
We are taught at a young age that addiction and drugs are dangerous. Teachers, parents, and pastors exclaim that these two components of life should be avoided, but an addiction can derive from anything. So, as I was listening to KOD by J.Cole I realized that no matter how strong weed, alcohol, pain killers, sex, and other powerful “drugs” may be; love is one that consumes more than just the human body or mind. Love consumes the soul.
It’s why relationships have a thin line between healthy and toxic, why there’s a thin line between love and hate. Love is just as addictive as any drink. We sip from someone else’s cup hoping for a feeling of euphoria in return. When it doesn’t make us feel the way we want to, we stop drinking from that cup, or sometimes we drink more of it.
Where the problem comes in, is when people confuse the feeling of love with what is required of a relationship. There’s a distinct difference between a relationship and two people being in love.Those two differences can cause confusion on what healthy love is.
The two main differences are that love is a feeling and a relationship is a process. Love is an unexplainable feeling you have towards someone, the feeling rarely requires work... it's just there. A relationship is what you do with that love. It is trust, communication, loyalty, and so much more. When we start noticing that a relationship is going badly, we say “But we love each other.” But is any relationship worth abuse, unhappiness, or insecurity? No. But sometimes we think "love" is. But any love that causes harm, is no longer love.
Too often we let ourselves take love and turn it into an unhealthy feeling. Love can seem undefinable, but like any addiction, like anything in the world, there can be a good amount and bad amount of how much you consume. Love can be sensual, but it shouldn’t be lust. Love can be passionate, but it should never be abusive. Love can be fun, exciting, intimate, overwhelming, and beautiful, but the second it starts to deviate from what makes it good, it can be like any other drug… harmful.
When we are young, we are taught that love is like a fairytale, and in phases, it can be, but love is also powerful beyond measure. It has the power to change lives and the entire world. When you say you love someone it’s more than words. It’s a feeling that can’t be defined. It’s so powerful that it creates an undeniable bond between two people. It’s the feeling that a mother gets when she holds her firstborn child, what a person feels when they’re ready to propose, and it’s what some people kill over.
Love can be addicting because it can make you feel so good, but when you lose it you can feel so bad. You have to take love and feel it for all of the good things. If you do, you’ll feel something that makes you feel complete inside. However, If you keep taking it in an unhealthy way, like any other drug… you can overdose.